Winter sports news blog
Tour de Ski: German is also happy with “wooden medal”.
Updated 12/31/2024 – 5:26 p.mReading time: 19 minutes
The winter sports season has begun. In our news ticker you will find all the important news about ski jumping, biathlon, alpine skiing and cross-country skiing.
Tuesday, December 31, 2024
Victoria Carl narrowly missed the first podium place for the German team at the 19th Tour de Ski for cross-country skiers. On the third stage, a 20-kilometer freestyle race in Dobbiaco, the Thuringian came fourth. Carl was 7.5 seconds behind third-placed Finn Kerttu Niskanen. The winner was Astrid Ore Slind from Norway. Jessie Diggins from the USA, who placed sixth this time, kept the lead in the overall ranking.
Carl held the lead until halfway through the race after mastering the uphill section brilliantly. After that, the experienced runners got going better. Nevertheless, no one was disappointed: “Everything was perfect, both in terms of body and material,” said Carl on ARD. “It’s the wooden medal again – but Vici has what it takes to be at the top. Maybe we’ll just save that for the World Championships,” added team boss Peter Schlickenrieder. Pia Fink took 15th place, the young Helen Hoffmann came a strong 20th.
Friedrich Moch gained a few places in the overall ranking with a good 20 kilometer freestyle race at the Tour de Ski. Last year’s runner-up finished the third stage in Toblach in twelfth place. Moch was 1:07.3 minutes behind winner Harald Oestberg Amundsen. The Norwegian won the freestyle race in 44:05.3 minutes and moved within 16 seconds of his compatriot Johannes Klaebo in the overall standings, who came fifth this time after two stage wins at the start.
Moch moved up from 38th to 22nd in the overall standings. Janosch Brugger took 17th place and narrowly missed a partial standard for the World Championships in March in Trondheim.
Saturday, December 28, 2024
Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser and Federal Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil watched the qualifying competition for the 2024/25 Four Hills Tournament. In a post on the X platform, Heil thanked the volunteers in Oberstdorf and posted pictures with them.
He wrote: “Without their commitment, this special event would not be possible. A strong sign of commitment and team spirit!” One day before the actual opening competition of the traditional jumping series, the Austrian Daniel Tschofenig won the qualification. Pius Patschke was the best German in sixth place. Read more about this here. There was also another record, which you can find out more about here.
Italian alpine skier Federica Brignone won a giant slalom in Semmering for the second time this season. The 34-year-old, who was also the fastest in the first run, was only eliminated in Killington, USA.
Sara Hector from Sweden completed the podium, 0.57 seconds behind, and New Zealand’s Alice Robinson. She was nine tenths of a second behind Brignone.
As the best of two German starters in the second run, Lena Dürr finished in 22nd place. “It worked out and was a lot more fun when you know that the slope is really nice. It’s a different kind of skiing,” said Dürr, who sees her strengths in the slalom on Sunday, to ZDF. Her teammate Emma Aicher was just ahead of Dürr after the first run, but then dropped out.